Gibraltar Crisis

The Gibraltar Crisis or Crisis of The Straits, was a looming fear of a market crash in 1923 due to the Rif War due to the fighting between Moroccan separatists and the Spanish colonial forces.

Backround: beginning of the Rif war
The Spanish empire had been declining for some time. Although Spain participated in the Cairo War and gained Ceylon, the Maldives and Ghana, their empire was very weak. Thanks to the war effort it drained Spain, especially its navy who would recover to its prewar status by 1930. And due to the exhaustion caused by the War, many anti-colonial African and Amazigh nationalists found their chance to strike. In northern Morocco controlled by Spain, or the Rif, Spanish Amazigh tribes soon took up arms, beginning the Rif war. Originally, the tribes had only a few thousand forces but were effective nonetheless. The Spanish navy was very ineffective, and it only took 1 month to capture almost all of the Spanish Rif.

Capture of Ceuta and the start of the crisis
Ceuta was the last city, and it was the biggest city in all of the Rif. The Spanish army was poorly trained and equipped with many wanting to go home and leave Morocco. After a 9 day siege, the city finally fell to Rif forces. The french also began to infiltrate the Rif republic hoping to aid the Spanish, but due to the the successful capture of the Rif, it sent French Moroccans to aid the Rif, damaging French garrisons, using guerilla tactics and more which devastated the French. Unrest kept growing, and in late December thousands of Moroccans in casa Blanca protest imperialism. But the calling in of the French army and police leads to 10 Moroccan civilians dead. Riots broke out through French Morocco while in Spain, anarchists and syndicalists showed their support for the Rif by striking, protesting and more. Due to the fighting between the Rif and Spain, it caused the Gibraltar straits to be closed off to world trading. But this ended up causing widespread international concern. Countries within the Mediterranean were entirely cut off, and places like the United States and Britain ended up having their supplies very limited. After a few weeks there began a fear of a market crash thanks to the straits being closed. Due to this Britain and America severely pressured the Spanish to give up their offensive.

The End of the War
Thanks to a number of factors, including sanctions and low troops morale Spain in December of the same year finally gave in and signed the Treaty of Ceuta. The terms of the treaty forced Spain to recognize the Rif but forced the Rif to give up Ceuta and as a result the French needed to withdraw from Morocco, giving it an autonomous puppet status. While the Rif was able to gain Tiznit, finally opening up the straits for trade again and the world market began to recover once again